In the assembly of electronic devices, surface mount components such as semiconductor chips or integrated circuits, contact elements and discrete electrical elements such as capacitors and resistors are installed onto printed circuit boards. The components must be delivered to an assembly staging area in some fashion to facilitate efficient mass production.
The use of embossed plastic carrier tapes for carrying components such as semiconductor chips or integrated circuits, contact elements or discrete electrical elements such as capacitors and resistors is well-recognized. The carrier tapes facilitate automatic handling, insertion and connection of components to printed circuit boards or other substrates. Embossed carrier tapes are fabricated to meet standardized requirements with respect to, for example, leader characteristics, pitch, trailer characteristics and cover tape.
Embossed carrier tapes have varying standard widths. Embossed carrier tapes are specified, for example, in the March, 1991, EIA-481-2 standard, entitled "16 mm and 24 mm Embossed Carrier Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling". Other tapes are specified in the EIA-481-3 standard, of November 1991, entitled "32 mm, 44 mm and 56 mm Embossed Carrier Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling". The EIA-481-1-A standard, dated August 1994, entitled "8 mm and 12 mm Punched & Embossed Carrier Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling" specifies yet other tape sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,500 describes a component feeder assembly for electronic components including reel drive means for advancing a roll of carrier tape which holds the electronic components. While some assembly apparatus are loaded with a roll of component-holding carrier tape and have mechanism for removing components from the roll, other assembly apparatus are loaded with component holding rectangular trays. The rectangular trays can be stacked onto a magazine station which presents trays in sequence to the component unloading apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,226 describes a multiple compartment magazine for holding individual devices in matrices of rows and columns.
The present inventors have recognized the need for a versatile tray system for storage, transport and assembly staging within a factory and for shipping quantities of components to destinations outside the factory. The present inventors have recognized a need for a tray system which can accommodate strips of component-carrying tape, particularly strips of component-carrying tape of varying widths and depths. The present inventors have recognized the need for a stackable tray system for shipping strips of component-carrying tape or component holding trays, which is easily adapted to reliably ship a variable quantity of components.